"Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is cutting several thousand jobs across the company as it seeks to reduce costs and become sustainably profitable without endangering the critical ramp up of production of its Model 3 sedan.

In an email he said had been sent to staff, billionaire Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday that the cuts were part of a simplification of Tesla’s management structure promised last month.

'As part of this effort, and the need to reduce costs and become profitable, we have made the difficult decision to let go of approximately 9 percent of our colleagues across the company,' the email read.

'These cuts were entirely from our salaried population and no production associates were included, so this will not affect our ability to reach Model 3 production targets in the coming months.'

Tesla said it began notifying impacted workers on Tuesday and would continue to do so throughout the week. A spokesman said it would reduce overall employment back to around 37,000 - roughly in line with numbers at the end of last year."